Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN)
was a
national–conservative,
Eurosceptic political group of the European Parliament
The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised political groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament.
The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in tha ...
active between 1999 and 2009.
History
UEN was formed on 20 July 1999
for the
5th European Parliament, supplanting the earlier
Union for Europe
The Union for Europe (UFE) was a conservative political group in the European Parliament that existed from 1995 to 1999. The group was formed during the 4th European Parliament term in July 1995 from a merger of the European Democratic Alliance ...
.
Its member parties
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
(FF) and the
National Alliance (AN) were the driving forces behind the group, despite their being alone in the group in their support for the proposed
European Constitution
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...
.
Gianfranco Fini, leader of AN, was a member of the Convention which drafted the Constitution, while
Bertie Ahern
Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...
, leader of FF, negotiated the treaty as
President of the European Council in 2004.
UEN was a heterogeneous group: broadly Eurosceptic and
national-conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
, it included some parties which were either uncomfortable with this characterisation or eventually evolved into something different. More specifically, FF was a "
catch all" centre-right party and later joined the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, AN was a conservative party which eventually joined the
European People's Party through
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...
, and
Lega Nord was supportive of a "Europe of Regions".
After the
2009 European elections the group officially had 35 members but this figure included parties such as AN and FF, which had already committed to leave.
["Full Text: Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the official Opening of 72nd Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis - Part 1"](_blank)
, Fianna Fáil website, posted 27 February 2009 UEN members migrated to other groups after the elections in June 2009 and before the
Seventh European Parliament
The seventh European Parliament was elected in the 2009 elections and lasted until the 2014 elections.
Major events
* 4–7 June 2009
** Elections to the Seventh Parliament.
* 14 July 2009
** First meeting (constitutive session) of the Sev ...
term started on 14 July 2009. FF had already left for the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group,
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK ( lv, Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK, abbreviated to TB/LNNK) was a free-market, national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance.
The party was founded ...
and
Law and Justice MEPs went to the
European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, and
Lega Nord, the
Danish People's Party
The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP).
The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...
and
Order and Justice
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
MEPs went to
Europe of Freedom and Democracy
Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and ...
(EFD) Group. With this loss of members, the UEN group was dissolved by default.
Membership
1999–2004
2004–2009
2009
References
External links
Table of all groups and the number of MEPs from countriesUEN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union For Europe Of The Nations
Former European Parliament party groups
Conservatism in Europe